I have seen and read a statement by the Deputy Inspector General of Government, Ms Anne Twinomugisha Muhairwe, cautioning Minister of Local Government, Hon Balaam, against taking his aggressive fight against corruption outside the confines of the law.
My dear sister, Ugandans have lost hope in the IGG. In fact, I am entitled to my own opinion as a Ugandan. The IGG has failed to tame corruption; instead, it is dining with corrupt people.
Please leave Hon Balaam to do his part, and you also do your part; otherwise, wait for your monthly salaries from taxpayers’ money.
When have you ever organised Barazas like what Hon Balaam is doing? Shame on you and shame on you, IGG.
Does the IGG want to say the police detectives that Hon Balaam moves with don’t know what they are doing? Hon Balaam only hands over the suspects to police for further management, the same way you also direct police to investigate and arrest suspects.
My lovely sister, if there is no one who has ever told you this, please listen carefully from me: Ugandans have lost trust in the IGG. All the trust now is in Hon Balaam because residents actually see the impact. Ugandans are not seeing the relevance of the IGG anymore.
In my own observation, the IGG has turned to be an institution used to target individuals in high offices, nothing else. That’s why they rushed to cause the interdiction and dismissal of innocent officers in the Ministry of Works, yet the real people who should have been responsible in the current corruption saga in the Ministry of Works are still in office.
There’s no way you can recommend the interdiction and dismissal of officials who are not decision-makers and leave the people responsible for designing, preparing bidding documents and negotiating the costs for road works.
Let’s look at the loopholes surrounding the Busega-Mpigi Expressway. There’s no way you can transfer that mess to junior engineers, leaving Mr Isaac Wani out of it.
Why Mr Wani, Commissioner National Roads in the Ministry of Works, should have been interdicted sometime back, much as he claims to be a whistleblower, but he’s not. He was the Director of Roads Design in UNRA by then. He was the chairman of the Contracts Committee that approved the Busega-Mpigi Expressway contract, even when he knew that its design was not there yet.
He’s the one who first approved the increase of Shs1.8 trillion for the project. This compelled the Ministry of Works then to put their separate committee to guide Mr Wani. This committee did a wonderful job by negotiating the cost of the project to Shs1.108 trillion downwards.
Instead of respecting the negotiations done by the Ministry of Works, Mr Wani, either out of greed, went and did his own independent business research and added Shs300 million, which increased the cost of the project to Shs1 trillion without the consent of the minister, whose role is to communicate the position of the government.
Really, is this not enough evidence that the IGG should have based on and let Mr Wani step aside if it’s not true that they are eating together with Wani?
Let’s look at an advert which was run for the position of Commissioner National Roads:
Ministry/Department: Ministry of Works and Transport
Post: Commissioner, National Roads
Scale: U1SE
Terms of Employment: Only staff of the former Uganda National Roads Authority should apply.
Vacancies: 1
Reference: HRM 91/153/01 VOL.5
Minimum Age: 35
Maximum Age: [Not stated]
Minimum Qualification
Applicants should be Ugandans holding an Honours Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering or any other relevant degree in the field of Civil Engineering, plus a Master’s Degree in Civil Engineering, Structural Engineering, Bridge Engineering, Highway Engineering or any other Civil Engineering field from a recognised university or institution.
Applicants must have a Postgraduate Diploma in a management field from a recognised university or institution. Applicants must be registered with the Engineers Registration Board (ERB).
Working Experience
Applicants should have a minimum of twelve (12) years of relevant working experience, three (3) of which should have been served at the level of Assistant Commissioner Civil Engineering in Government or an equivalent level of experience from a reputable organisation.
Duties
The incumbent will be responsible to the Permanent Secretary for performing the following duties:
- Initiating and coordinating the development and review of policies regarding national road development and maintenance;
- Collaborating with international organisations, intergovernmental organisations, agencies of other states and the private sector on issues related to the development of national roads;
- Planning, designing and developing the national road infrastructure;
- Developing and enforcing regulations and policies related to the use and management of national roads;
- Securing and managing funding for the construction and maintenance of national roads;
- Developing, maintaining, controlling and managing national road reserves and facilities;
- Preparing and implementing annual road maintenance programmes;
- Developing, maintaining and utilising road asset management systems for national roads;
- Managing the performance and development of supervisees in line with the performance management system;
- Any other duties as may be assigned from time to time.
Now my question to the IGG is: who is occupying that position currently in the Ministry of Works? Why have you not taken interest in interrogating this person holding that office, bearing in mind that he’s the one responsible for the delays or stalled completion of the roads?
Are you not also showing Ugandans that you’re also corrupt by keeping such a person to continue discharging his duties, yet he should have moved out to pave way for investigations?
Now, with all that job description, my question is: Is the IGG investigating Mrs Allen Kagina and her team, or is the IGG also trying to play a hide-and-seek game with its investigations, with the move to protect people who are supposed to have been interdicted long ago?
Are you also dining with the corrupt with your targeted investigations? Ugandans need that report. Where is it? You did two separate investigations; where’s the report?
This is something very serious that I would like to appeal to our President to look into. I would also like to bring to the attention of our Bad Man, General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, that the IGG investigations seem to be targeting some small group of innocent people, leaving the whole big team who should be answerable to this corruption.
My sources are even telling me there was a letter sent from State House directing Wani to vacate the office, but unfortunately, Mr Fred Byamukama, the Minister of Works, with the current Acting Permanent Secretary, are hiding the letter. But we shall bring out those details in the next article.
I’m not witch-hunting anyone, but the truth must be put right so that the investigations and punishment are directed at the real culprits.
This is why I keep on appealing to President Museveni over this, because what’s happening in the Ministry of Works is the same as what happened to Jesus Christ when they took him with two thieves.
Some people preferred Jesus to be killed, yet Jesus was doing the right things, resurrecting the dead, making the lame walk and making the blind see. But he was killed, and that’s what has happened to the dismissed engineers.
They were not responsible for designing the road, procuring the contractor or negotiating the cost, but they have been accused of this, yet the officials responsible for all this, the IGG is bypassing him or them for unknown reasons.
Something must be fishy here.
If the President spends time and meets with those officials interdicted, he will also remain in disbelief.
So I would like to appeal to my Hon Minister Balaam: please ignore those statements. Those are statements of panicking. Instead of the IGG welcoming your efforts, some corrupt officials are now trying to use the IGG to frustrate your efforts.
Without favour or fear, several IGG officials, especially at the lower level, have been sharing the looted funds with district local government staff.
The writer is the senior veteran journalist.
